Appeasement may be regarded as a philosophy of the maintenance of peace; in political terms it refers to policy of conciliation with a potential aggressor, often with implications of sacrifice of principles (Oxford Dictionary). The policy of appeasement is one in which both Britain and France and many other nations took towards Nazi Germany and its expansionist aims during the late 1930s, it is one of the most controversial and criticized foreign policies in history (Gelernter D 2002:22). This paper argues that the appeasement policy was for most nations around the world in the 1930s a less challenging way to deal with the problem of Hitler. Nowadays it is a common view that if Britain and France would have taken a harder line against the Nazis then Hitler's aggressive policy would not have remained unchecked and German expansionism may not have endangered the anti Nazi nation states of Europe and beyond. This essay will also explore the view that appeasement was necessary for many different countries at the time, as a way of buying time for rearmament, so that they would be able to oppose militarily Nazi Germany. The appeasement policy reflected the general consensus of people who where opposed to going to war again so soon when they still were feeling the devastating effects of the World War One (WW1). In regards to whether appeasement in the 1930s was defensible we have to look at the justifications for the policy of appeasement. We ultimately have to understand if it was a bid to reach a peaceful understanding with Germany or nations looking after their own interests. An important matter to note is that the major powers were anxious to stop any German influence over Eastern Europe at any cost (Day D 2003:8-10).

The term appeasement is used to describe the response of Western European governments, mainly Britain and France, to the expansionist activities of Germany under Hitler and to some extent Italy under Mussolini in the 1930s (The Roots of European Appeasement, Gelernter D 2002:24). Their attitude was to give them what they wanted to prevent a war in Central Europe. The events that occurred in WW1 had generated a great fear of war in the general populous and there was no hurry in their minds to repeat the horror once more. Consequently the major powers of the 1930s strove to prevent further breakout of war through whatever means deemed necessary at the time. WW1 was to be the ‘war to end all wars’ and appeasement was seen as a way to maximize the chances of peace. The British government believed in appeasement till the day there was no other solution than to go to war on Germany. Appeasement was described by the writing of the realist Morgenthau as a “corrupted policy of compromise, made erroneously by mistaking a policy of imperialism for a policy of the status quo” (Morgenthau cited in Dimuccio R.B.A. 1998:247) An interesting aspect of the appeasement policy is that it met the aggressor’s demands without asking for reciprocal advantages. This basic part of the policy involved agreeing to what the aggressor nation wanted, this case being Germany, without asking for anything back. The appeasing nations would provide help in whatever way

they deemed they could without necessarily expecting any concessions. What is to be questioned is why the leaders of these appeasing nations would implement such and unfair and non-demanding policy.

In the case of Britain the situation was quite complicated. Many critics saw the policy as merely reflective of a weak leader of a nation that allowed itself to lose its position of political, economic and military pre-eminence in Europe. If we look at Britain in the 1930s the diversity of public sentiment and a lack of consensus among British citizens could have been the reasoning behind the policy of appeasement. First of all there was strong Nazi party influence as evidenced by the Parliamentary Peace Aims Group who pressed the government to seek out the possibilities of a...

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...Appeasement Intro
WWII. Everyone knows it happened and who caused it. Everyone knows about Pearl Harbor, “Never forget”, but what really started the war? WWII way well underway by the time the United States entered the fight, yet people neglect to learn of the course of events that led the world into its second global war. Yes, Hitler’s conquest began with his invasion of Poland, but his intentions had been clear for years previous. Why, then, one might ask, was nothing done to stop him? To kill the weed before it grew? If it was evident that Germany’s Fuhrer had cruel intentions, why weren’t armies raised to counter him? The answer is that not everyone, most importantly not the man who had the power to, believed armies were necessary to stop Hitler. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time, saw Hitler as a greedy young boy, who wanted more than his own share of the pie. He decided that if he gave the boy a bit of that desired piece of pie, he would have his fill and be satisfied, and so he gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler in hopes of peace. But human nature leads us to be ever unsatisfied with what we are given. For a while the boy is content, but soon, he wants more, so in the night, he sneaks to the kitchen, and takes what he wishes to be his. In this case, the process of appeasement failed, and where it was supposed to prevent war, it simply delayed it. This, in retrospect, this failure to negotiate peace, created...

...YR 12 MODERN HISTORY 2013 – RESEARCH TASK
To what extent was the policy of appeasement the most important factor in causing the Second World War?
Appeasement is defined as the diplomatic policy used in the attempt at making centrally political compromises to an authoritarian power/powers in order to evade the possibility of a conflict. This policy was followed predominantly by Britain in the 1930s in their efforts to settle global disputes by resolving grievances through cooperation and conciliation. One of the most famous examples of this policy is the negotiations that were held between British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain and Nazi chancellor/dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler in the lead up to World War Two. Although it has been widely argued by many historians that in following such a policy, Britain and France invigorated Hitler’s aggression and triggered World War Two, appeasement was only a contributing factor in causing World War Two amongst other important influences such as the Treaty Of Versailles, Hitler’s actions and the failure of the League of Nations.
The heritage of World War 1 in France and Britain had generated a strong public and political longing for achieving ‘peace at any price’, British historian R.A.C Parker even believed that Chamberlain wanted to accomplish this notion for his own personal glory. However, neither country was militarily prepared for the outbreak of war, and as...

...ever occurring at The Remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Munich Conference and The Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Britain and France could have also lowered reparations for Germany as Germany was bankrupt and with extremist parties taking power such as The Nazis would dislike the Allies and The Treaty of Versailles.
The major causes of WW2 were not the weaknesses of Britain and France as Czechoslovakia was too far away from Britain and France to help if the German Army invaded but Czechoslovakia would have been a very useful ally against Germany as Czech was positioned deep into Germany and their army was modern and well equipped.
The failure of The League of Nations was a major long term cause of WW2 for without the League Europe in the 1930s would not have been able to keep peace as well as it could with The League.
Hitler’s aim was to get revenge for the Treaty of Versailles by overturning it and taking back land lost by the Treaty and making Germany more powerful but no-one had the power at that time to stop Hitler as the Allies were still weak from the Depression and needed prudent time to rearm and build up their armed forces. Britain and France could have done little to control the German population voting for the German occupation of the Saar. Britain and France couldn’t have done anything about the Rome-Berlin axis/alliance.
The main long term causes were that of the beginning of the League of America not joining and not allowing Germany to join...

...﻿Appeasement Essay
The approach presented in the following extract on Frank Macdonough’s understanding of appeasement is that being of structuralism. We can understand from his taken approach that Chamberlain's actions were as a result of current situations, structures and constraints, whereby his decisions were not immediately decided but were determined by outside influences which controlled his decision and action making.
An example of Chamberlain following a structualist approach can be seen in the Rhineland Crisis in 1936. After Hitler had successfully taken back the German-speaking Saar in 1935, he decided to test his luck even further by ordering 32,000 of his troops to openly re-enter the Rhineland, thus breaking the terms of Versailles once again. Chamberlain decided not to react and not to let Britain go to war with Germany, even after they had clearly broken one of the terms of the Versailles, due to the fact that as a whole, the nation was too weak military and economically to commit to a war unless they really had to. Hence why Chamberlain believed that appeasement should be chosen as their main policy; because it was more likely a policy that would maintain peace with Germany, but also, due to economic constraints Chamberlain had no other option but to comply with Hitler’s demands.
Specifically from Macdonough’s extract, we can draw this result from the sentence: “What Chamberlain brought to British foreign...

...﻿Appeasement: The policy of making concessions (which seemed reasonable) to Hitler in order to avoid war. The policy was ﻿Appeasement: The policy of making concessions (which seemed reasonable) to Hitler in order to avoid war. The policy was particularly assosciated with Neville Chamberlain, Conservative prime minister from 1937-40. The policy began before Chamberlain took power eg 1935 Anglo-German Naval agreement.
In favor: The USA would not support Britain if we stood up to Hitler.
The economic problems in Britain were already the priority at the time.
The appeasement prevented a war.
Britain was not ready for a war as they were trying to focus on their economic issues.
The Treaty of Versailles was quite unfair towards the Germans.
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﻿Appeasement: The policy of making concessions (which seemed reasonable) to Hitler in order to avoid war. The policy was particularly assosciated with Neville Chamberlain, Conservative prime minister from 1937-40. The policy began before Chamberlain took power eg 1935 Anglo-German Naval agreement.
In favor: The USA would not support Britain if we stood up to Hitler.
The economic problems in Britain were already the priority at the time.
The appeasement prevented a war.
Britain was not ready for a war as they were trying to focus on their economic issues.
The Treaty of...

...Why – and with what success – did Britain and France persue a policy of appeasement in the 1930s?
To fully understand the political actions of Britain and France during the 1930s, a concise definition of the term appeasement must first be provided. As a policy, appeasement is the act of negotion with a country deemed to be a threat to peace and stability, through the provision of limited concessions in which to satisfy its demands. In this case, it was Britain and France's belief that showing leaniance to an increasingly powerful and threatening Germany under fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, would secure eventual peace and stability within Europe. The outcome, as we know from hindsight, was unsuccessful and lead to the outbreak of war in 1939, however before it can be dismissed as a failure on behalf of Germany's rivals, futhur investigation has to be made into why it took so long for Chamberlain to abandon his policy of appeasement in the eye of the storm, and why it was carried out in the first place.
The consequences and political implications in the aftermath of World War I had left Europe an unstable power vaccum. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire made way for smaller states with little military strength or defense borders, and Russia, with its new Communist agenda declared itself hostile. The USA, after its decisive intervention in the War, had gone into a state of...

...﻿Factors that Motivated Britain and France to Adopt a Policy of Appeasement during the 1930s
This paper will take a critical look into what the policy of appeasement was about, the factors that led Britain and France to adopt it, its advantages, disadvantages, and the impact it had on the World War 2. The policy of appeasement is a diplomatic policy that allowed enemies to find a common ground with one another to avoid war. The term was very common after the World War I because no country wanted to be involved in another war. The consequences of the First World War threw Europe into economic, political and social instability. Britain and France were not prepared for another war as their economies were in bad shape following the great depression on Wall Street crash. The First World War had left various undesirable impacts in the world. Moreover, amongst a genuine desire for peace, there was always the old British desire that no single party should rule Europe.
The policy of appeasement
There were a few important historical events that happened before the policy was realized. The first historical event was the discussion between Chamberlain and Hitler over Czechoslovakia. The Treaty of Versailles restricted Germany and Austria to form any kind of political union after the World War I. However, Hitler had his own plans. He wanted to reunite Austria and Germany when he came into power, thereby...

...In the 1930s, appeasement was widely used by Britain and France to satisfy Germany’s demands by negotiation and compromises to prevent war. However, this method was clearly ineffective due to Hitler’s already existing determination to achieve a greater Germany. This determination caused Hitler to act aggressively in his attacks in order to succeed in his aims which led to the failure of Britain and France’s attempt of negotiation. Hitler was also hard to appease and made unreasonable demands which led to the failure of the appeasement. However, Hitler had no intentions to be appeased from the very beginning and did not take it seriously. He had his own goals and he was determined to succeed in any way. Appeasement was just slowing him down. Agreeing to the appeasement was just for show and it ended up a failure as Hitler never serious about compromising his demands with Britain and France. Thus, I agree to a large extend that the failure of appeasement to prevent World War 2 was the result of Nazi aggression, but it also failed because Hitler never had intentions to compromise his demands in the very first place.
Hitler’s determination to achieve a better Germany caused Nazi aggression which led to the failure of appeasement. The appeasement policy encouraged Hitler to act aggressively and each time he was appeased, it inflated his appetite and confidence to...

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